Posts Tagged ‘buses’

Let’s see here, oh, still an abysmal 2 star rating from Yelp. The Ford GoBike / BABS people could easily fix this situation by changing the wording of their marketing, BUT they don’t feel like it, Man, obvs.

Anyway, they’re still double parking their Mercedes Benzes on Market, and sometimes that causes problems for MUNI buses, as here near Second Street.

Illegal turns off of Market too – are the GoBike people allowed to do that? IDK. IDTS.

And oh yes, bikes aren’t transit, sry. You could pass a law that says that bicycles have something to do with transit, just as you could write a law what says cats are dogs for the purposes of a Leash Law, but that wouldn’t actually make cats dogs, right?

And here’s the defense of GoBike, seemingly written by an employee. I’m not saying an employee wrote this, but this is how an employee/owner might look at things, FBOW:

I am finding out that many people have given poor reviews because they thought they could pull a fast one and take off with one of the shared bicycles for a whole day for a measly $9. I’ve sometimes told tourists on the Golden Gate bridge that they should think of returning their bikes before they ruin themselves (they tell me I’m wrong, that they rented the bike for 24 hours…). There are dozens of perfectly decent stores around North Beach that will rent them a bike for $40. Bay Area Bikeshare is being penalized because folks choose not to read the price list (which is printed in large characters) and they are not familiar with how every bike sharing system in the world works.

But I don’t think you can try to “pull a fast one” without being aware that you’re doing it, I’m srsly.

1. Go to the right, as shown, but sometimes there’s not enough room to do so.

2. Go to the left, but sometimes there’s not enough room to do so.

3. Go into the left lane, but there’s a huge wheel-swallowing gap in the road for the huge metal BART/MUNI subway grate, and if you fall down and get run over by a streetcar, a member of the SFPD just might say you weren’t riding “in the bike lane.”

4. Line up behind the stalled bus like you’re a car driver, for 10 to 150 seconds.

I’ve done all four.

(I understand about where the BART entrances are placed, but I’d widen some lanes here in some places, at the expense of the (sorry, “urbanists”) overly wide sidewalks of Market Street…)

Please join us for a public meeting later this month to update you on the Muir Woods Sustainable Access Project (formerly Muir Woods Site Improvements). This project would preserve resources by improving parking, transit, and pedestrian access at Muir Woods.

Public scoping & comment for the Muir Woods Sustainable Access Project was completed in the fall of 2013. An environmental assessment will be released for public review and comment in the fall of 2016 in compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).Comments received on cultural resource issues will also be taken into account while coordinating compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

An accident at 4th and Market during the evening drive means that buses will back up Market Street both ways. This was in the the Financial last night:

This was the scene. I didn’t see what happened.

An SFPD motor patrol officer said the bike rider had a broken back and a possible broken pelvis. He said that words might have been exchanged between the bike rider and somebody in the red Hyundai before the collision.

The Municipal Transportation Agency is just concluding an 18-month pilot program for the tech buses meant to calm fears…

REALLY, THAT’S WHAT THE PILOT WAS FOR, TO “CALM FEARS?” I THINK NOT, I THINK IT WAS FOR OTHER REASONS. IT WASN’T JUST A THERAPY SESSION FOR US IRRATIONAL “HATERS,” RIGHT?

provide a way for the shuttle companies to pay for using Muni bus stops.

UH, NO. THE PILOT FEES WERE A WAY TO PAY THE SFMTA TO RUN THE PILOT.

Most people thought…

IS THIS THE STANDARD? LIKE, DO “MOST PEOPLE” APPROVE OF MAYOR ED LEE’S JOB PERFORMANCE? NOPE! NOT CURRENTLY, ANYWAY. SO, DOES THAT “PROVE” HE’S NOT DOING A GOOD JOB? HEY, DID “MOST PEOPLE” APPROVE OF MOST OF SFGOV SERVICING THE NFL FOR FREE AND FOCUSING ON THE SUPER BOWL 50 PARTY FOR THE BULK OF THE PAST TWO MONTHS? NOPE! SO WHAT DOES THAT PROVE, CHUCK?

But the progressive wing of the supervisors, particularly Jane Kim

SO LET’S SEE HERE, JANE KIM SUCKS AND SCOTT WIENER IS OUR SUN, OUR MOON, AND ALL OUR STARS? IS THIS GOING TO BE THE THEME OF CHUCK’S COLUMNS FROM HERE TO ETERNITY / NOVEMBER 2016? I THINK SO.

“They’re playing politics,” says MTA Board director Gwyneth Borden. “We’re separate agencies, so they don’t get to tell us what to do.”

OH BOY, WELL, FIRST OF ALL, OUR BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ISN’T AN “AGENCY,” RIGHT? SO OUR LOCAL PARTY APARATCHIKS SHOULD PROBABLY KNOW BETTER THAN TRYING TO EQUATE THE BOS WITH THE SFMTA. OF COURSE, THE SFMTA _IS_ AN AGENCY, BUT IT’S A BIG POS AGENCY THAT SHOULD BE DISBANDED. ITS PRIMARY JOB IS RUNNING MUNI BUT IT CAN’T REALLY DO THAT WELL, SO IT FOCUSES ON TRYING TO EXPAND ITS POWER, BUDGET, PAYROLL, ETCETERA. I’LL TELL YOU, PROP E FROM 1999 HAD SOME YARDSTICKS FOR THE SFMTA – CHECK OUT “SEC. 8A.103. SERVICE STANDARDS AND ACCOUNTABILITY.” IT’S ALL “at least 85 percent of vehicles must run on-time.” HEY, ARE WE THERE YET? NO? SO WHAT DID THE 85% MEAN? OH, NOTHING? OH, IS 85% SOMETHING THE SFMTA TRIED TO COOK THE BOOKS TO TRY TO ATTAIN, BUT EVEN THEN IT COULDN’T? YEP. SO WHY DO WE HAVE THE SFMTA STILL AROUND THEN? OR MAYBE THE 85% FIGURE IS MEANINGLESS, JUST SOMETHING TO GET “MOST PEOPLE” TO VOTE YES ON PROP E BACK IN ’99? BOY, IT SURE SEEMS THAT WAY, FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF 2016. WHAT IF THAT ON-TIME FIGURE COMMITTMENT HAD BEEN 100% – WOULD ANYTHING BE DIFFERENT NOW? OR WHAT IF PROP E PROMISED VOTERS A 110% ON-TIME PERCENTAGE? WOULD THAT HAVE MADE ANY DIFFERENCE? IDTS. IN ANY EVENT, THE BOS ISN’T JUST ANOTHER RUN OF THE MILL “AGENCY” FILLED WITH RUN OF THE MILL APPOINTED BOARD MEMBERS, FTR.

OH NEW ISSUE: ISN’T THE SFMTA’S PILOT CONTRARY TO STATE LAW? I THINK IT IS. I THINK THERE WAS AN EFFORT TO CHANGE CA STATE LAW TO TAKE CARE OF THIS ISSUE, BUT I NEVER HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT IT SINCE. OH WELL.

“As Supervisor Scott Wiener says…”

CWNEVIUS SHOULD LEAD OFF EVERY SENTENCE IN EVERY ONE OF HIS POLITICAL BITS LIKE THIS, ‘CAUSE THAT’S PRETTY MUCH WHAT HE’S DOING.

The shuttle companies already have parking lots and white zones picked out for stops and will just use those.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT CHUCK IS TALKING ABOUT HERE. THERE ARE SOME PARKING LOTS THAT AREN’T CURRENTLY BEING USED, BUT ARE ALREADY “PICKED OUT” JUST IN CASE? IF I CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT CHUCK’S TALKING ABOUT, HOW WILL HIS EVERYMAN, ARCHIE BUNKER-TYPE READERS UNDERSTAND WHAT HE’S TALKING ABOUT? HEY, WHAT IF CHUCK HAD AN EDITOR, OR AT LEAST SOMEBODY TO RUN THINGS BY AFORE PUBLICATION? MAN, THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING.

hubs

IDK, MAYBE. MOST OF THESE ROUTES FUNCTION LIKE LIMITEDS, RIGHT? LIKE THE NX JUDAH, WHICH HAS STOPS AT BOTH ENDS WITH A LONG-HAUL STRETCH IN THE MIDDLE. SO, WHAT IF THE NX HAD JUST ONE STOP OUT IN THE AVENUES? IT WOULD BE STILL BE USEFUL TO MANY, BUT PERHAPS NOT AS USEFUL AS BEFORE. I’LL TELL YOU, IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT “PLAYING POLITICS,” THAT’S WHAT’S GOING ON WHEN SCOTT WIENER SAYS THAT EXPLORING HUBS WOULD “DESTROY” OUR CORPORATE BUS LINE SYSTEM.

The pilot program created some changes, like taking big buses off narrow streets, and it seemed to be working.

REALLY? I DON’T KNOW THIS. FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT CHANGES? I’LL TELL YOU, OUR SFMTA, WHICH HAS GOTTEN MILLIONS AND MILLIONS WORTH OF “BEHESTED” MONEY FROM, WELL, I’LL JUST LET YOU GUESS FROM WHOM, GENTLE READER, IS AWFULLY CAGEY ABOUT THE ENTIRE PILOT. HOW ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE, “WELL, WE HAD THIS INTERSTATE BUS TRYING TO MAKE A TURN AT THIS INTERSECTION AND IT WASN’T WORKING OUT, SO NOW WE’RE USING … SMALLER BUSES? OR, A DIFFERENT ROUTE? “IDK.

…hard-core progressives are mad as hell…

SO WHO ELECTED THIS HARD CORE, CHUCK? YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS OF FRISCO, AKA YOUR NEW-FOUND HOME? HEY, PERHAPS YOUR POLITICAL HERO SCOTT WIENER IS CONSISTENTLY RIGHT OF CENTER, SF POLITICS-WISE? ISN’T THAT TRUE? PERHAPS, BOTH CHUCK AND SCOTT ARE HARD-CORE CONSERVATIVES, SF POLITICS-WISE? DOES THIS TYPE OF DISCOURSE HELP MATTERS, ONE WONDERS?

They’re angry that the techies not only have good, high-paying jobs…

REALLY, CHUCK? SO ANY CRITIQUE OF OUR POS SFMTA IS BASED UPON THIS ALLEGED ANGER? IDTS. (AND HEY, CHUCK, DO _YOU_ HAVE A “GOOD HIGH-PAYING” JOB? OH, NO, BUT YOU’RE WORKING ON IT?)

Now they want them to leave

SO JANE KIM WANTS “TECHIES” TO LEAVE SF? REALLY?

wonderful, desirable place to live

ONE WONDERS IF THE MSM OF PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA HAS A CHUCK NEVIUS CHEERING ON THE GOV’MINT LIKE THIS?

haters

ELECTEDS KNOW BETTER THAN TO VENT LIKE THIS, TO USE TERMS LIKE THIS, SO THEY SHUNT THIS KIND OF HEAVY LIFTING TO THEIR PR PEOPLE. BUT, THE PR PEOPLE SIMILARLY KNOW BETTER THAN TO VENT LIKE THIS. SO THEY ASSIGN THE TASK TO … SFGOV HEAD CHEER LEADER [GIVE ME A] C! [GIVE ME A] W! [GIVE ME A] NEVIUS!

Here you go, some non-pdf images that ppl will actually be able to find in six months, you know, after this official link will no longer be working, for whatever reason:

Y dos:

Getting Ready for Construction After a multi-year, community-driven planning and design process to create a safer and better Masonic Avenue, the city is pleased to announce that construction on the Masonic Avenue Streetscape Project will begin in mid-2016!

After all the delays, one doesn’t know how the SFMTA knows that it will actually get going. IRL, what the SFMTA is saying here is that it’s PLANNING on getting going in mid-2016 or later. I’d prolly lose any and all exclamation points as well. Also, instead of “community-driven,” I’d read that as SFMTA-driven. As far as safety is concerned, we’ll have to wait and see. The primary effect will be to slow this part of Masonic down down down. In recent years, pedestrian / cyclist deaths on Masonic have been caused by two severely drunk drivers, and one jaywalking pedestrian. So, will this happily-named “Streetscape!” pork-barrel project prevent DUI drivers? Nope, not at all. Will it lessen the bad effects of drunk driving? I srsly doubt it, but we’ll see. And, since this project’s northern border is at Geary, it will necessarily have little to no effect upon jaywalking Trader Joe’s shoppers at the top of the hill area. As far as whether Masonic will become “better,” well that’s debatable. I’ll concede it might be a better street for some. Of course, the SFMTA, being the inefficient political beast it has become, won’t never concede nothing nohow. It won’t even agree to test out how much these changes will slow down traffic, even for one day. What you’d do is cone off the slow lane of inbound Masonic one random morning and then watch the traffic back up and then spend your time explaining away all the consequences. Obviously, the SFMTA doesn’t want to do that, so it makes excuses. Fine. I’d expect nothing else from it.

San Francisco Public Works will be the managing the construction phase and is in the process of hiring a contractor. This project will bring a variety of new features to Masonic Avenue, including a landscaped median, better lighting, an improved sewer system, raised bikeways, bus stop enhancements, and a new public plaza at Geary Boulevard.

It will also take away some things. What are those, SFMTA? Oh, you don’t want to say? OK fine. One of these effects will be a slow down of MUNI on Masonic during the morning and evening drives. But, because they’ll put in some bus shelters, public “access” to transit will be “improved.” This makes no sense. How much will MUNI be slowed? We’ll have to wait and see. And then, the SFMTA will step up a few years later to spend more pork, more of The People’s Money, to “tune-up” Masonic. So that’s a double-win for the SFMTA, even though it’s not clear that the current plan will be a net “improvement.”

These enhancements are all in support of San Francisco’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating all traffic deaths in the city.

This is a simple definition of VisionZero. The complicated version is that, somehow, without really even trying, SF will miraculously eliminate all transportation deaths in SF County by the year 2024 and all in years future. If you acknowledge that this impossible goal is in fact impossible, then there are many positions at the SFMTA for which you’d be ineligible. Oh well.

If you have any questions about construction, please contact Alex Murillo at Alex.M.Murillo@sfdpw.org or 415.558.5296. Parking Management The SFMTA’s recent launch of Residential Permit Parking Area Q has helped keep parking available for local residents and businesses—additional evaluation data will be available in the coming months.

As a general rule, our SFMTA tends to favor Masonic Avenue area residents vs. the current users of Masonic and to a ridiculous degree. JMO.

To offset some of the parking being repurposed…

What would a neutral word be for “repurposed?” Would it be “eliminated?” Yes it would.

by the Masonic Avenue Streetscape Project, the SFMTA is evaluating nearby streets for opportunities to increase on-street parking supply and will be engaging the community for feedback.

So, our SFMTA has been saving up its energy to “create” parking spaces exactly at the time it wants to hush complaints of eliminating parking spaces? Apparently. Looking at the map on the second page, some of these blocks would appear to be non-starters. Our SFMTA certainly approves of illegal double-parking on Central Ave, but this map would make a hash of that, oh well.

These efforts are in addition to the 20 spots already added on Fulton between Central and Baker as part of the separate Muni Forward 5 Fulton Rapid Project.

Our SFMTA boasts of putting in bike lanes on Fulton, and then pushing them towards the center of Fulton, but then come two blocks of 90 degree parking, the least cyclist-friendly thing I can imagine. But this placated residents and that appears to be one of our SFMTA’s Most Important Things.

And on it goes. If you want to read about Masonic, start here and spend all day if you want, I don’t care. Anyway, that’s the update for 2016. Traffic’s going to get a lot worse as soon as parts of Masonic start getting shut down and then it won’t get much better after construction is completed, oh well.

Hey, you know how pissed off our slow, inefficient, politics-addled, ideologically-driven SFMTA is at Uber and Lyft and all the rest? EXTREMELY! So our SFMTA is doing all it can to reign in and profit from the Uber Lyft. But until our SFMTA can rope those cash cows, it’s going to fence off parts of Frisco to Uber Lyft as much as possible. Our SFMTA is going to do whatever it can to Fuck With Uber until Uber Pays The Man. I’m srsly.

And our SFMTA will do it in the Name Of Safety, as always.

Anyway, here are all the deets on the changes (you can’t really call them improvements until they’re done and then you can see if they’re actually improvements, right?) coming to the PoBeGa, Powell Below Geary.

Join us at an open house to learn about safety and sidewalk improvements proposed for Powell Street!

The Powell Street Safety and Sidewalk Improvement Pilot will test the effectiveness of vehicle restrictions on transit delay, traffic volumes, loading patterns, and cable wear and tear. It would prohibit all vehicles except Muni, taxis, and commercial vehicles from driving on Powell Street between Ellis and Geary Streets. Stop by to learn more!

I’m not sure about the reference to “DEVELOPERS.” SFGov is fixing on taking out two lanes of parking / rush-hour lanes betwixt Geary and Masonic. It’s not like they’re cutting down these trees to put up a condo building.

*Which is actually not a good day of the week to protest, since buses normally full Tuesday-Thursday are much less full on Fridays, not to go full Trotskyite on you, Comrades. I’m only just saying, Comrades.